Schumacher sets record

NHRA driver surpasses career victory mark in Top Fuel

Tony Schumacher broke a tie with Joe Amato for the Top Fuel career victory record Sunday at Concord, taking the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway for his 53rd win.

Schumacher powered his dragster to a final-round performance of 3.882 seconds at 317.64 mph to hold off Antron Brown (3.923 at 309.42). It was Schumacher's seventh straight victory, 12th of the year, 28th consecutive elimination-round win and 14th final-round appearance -- all NHRA season Top Fuel records.

"This is something just special," said Schumacher, who increased his Countdown to 1 points lead to 46 over Brown. "I feel blessed to be the driver of that race car. It's hard work to get it. You win two or three races and you start setting records and you start to focus on how to keep it going. It seems so impossible. No one has ever done it before, and there's a reason for that. It's hard to win these races."

Jack Beckman, Steve Johnson and Justin Humphreys also won their divisions in the first of six races in the NHRA POWERade Series Countdown to 1.

Beckman continued his hot streak in Funny Car and earned his third straight victory in his fourth straight final-round appearance. He drove his Dodge Charger to a 4.130 at 302.82 to hold off new points leader Cruz Pedregon (4.162 at 302.08). Beckman moved from sixth to second in the points order with his victory, the fifth of his career.

Humphreys claimed his first Pro Stock victory in a Pontiac GXP on a solo run after new points leader Kurt Johnson's Chevy Cobalt wouldn't start prior to the final round. Regardless, Johnson moved into the points lead with the runner-up finish.

Johnson raced to his second straight Pro Stock Motorcycle victory and fifth overall to vault from eighth to second in the point standings when Eddie Krawiec fouled at the start.

ALSO SUNDAY

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX: Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race when the 21-year-old German captured the Italian Grand Prix on a wet course in Monza, Italy.

Vettel was on the pole and edged Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren by 12.5 seconds to give Torro Rosso its first victory.

Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion, had been the youngest winner at 22 when he won the 2003 Hungarian GP.

Lewis Hamilton worked his way up from 15th on the grid to finish seventh, maintaining his lead in the overall standings. Felipe Massa of Ferrari was sixth and trails the McLaren driver by one point with four races left.

Vettel was also the youngest driver to start from the pole.

BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica was third, followed by Alonso of Renault and Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber.

This was the wettest race at Monza in 27 years. The safety car was brought out for the start with the steady drizzle failing to let up and all cars using extreme wet tires to navigate the track.

INDIANAPOLIS MOTO GP: Taking the lead from American rider Nicky Hayden on the 14th lap, Valentino Rossi easily began pulling away before a sudden rainstorm and swirling wind stopped the inaugural Indianapolis GP eight laps from the finish. Locked into first place, the Italian rider pulled into the pits and waited about a half-hour until the race was officially halted.

This was the first time motorcycles competed at the Speedway since 1909, the year the track was built and two years before the first Indianapolis 500.

The victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.6-mile road course was Rossi's seventh this season and fourth in a row, moving him closer to his sixth MotoGP series championship with four races to go. It also was his 69th career win, breaking the record he shared with former rider Giacomo Agostini.